by Rohan Gunaratna
Sri Lankan-born Australian Dr. Olga Mendis is a remarkable woman. She has to her credit, a distinguished career as a medical practitioner an unrivalled record of community service to the Sri Lankan diaspora; and, with the recent publication of "The Story of the Sri Lankans" the status of a respected popular historian.

I met Dr. Mendis for the first time during a brief visit to Australia in July 1996. During that visit, she was still working on the book, but was visibly disturbed. The head of the LTTE International Secretariat Lawrence Tilagar, an Indian third batch (Kullathur, Tamil Nadu, 1985) trained cadre, was granted a visa to visit Australia and the LTTE had overrun the Mulaitivu base-complex killing 45 officers and 1197 soldiers.

I recall Dr. Mendis having two concerns. First, she wanted the Sri Lankan High Commission in Canberra to play an assertive role influencing Australian policy on the LTTE particularly because the funds raised in Australia were used to procure military hardware to commit violence in a friendly state. Second, she wanted to fashion a new Sri Lankan generation both to challenge the LTTE international propaganda network overseas and channel resources generated overseas to assist Sri Lanka at an hour of crisis. Undoubtedly, Dr., Mendis's book is the fuel to fashion this generation.

Tamil State
Historically, Dr. Mendis, argues that there is no justification for an independent Tamil state in Sri Lanka. She challenges the distorted histories written by some Tamil academics to add credence to the LTTE vision and mission for the creation of a mono-ethnic Tamil state.

Dr. Mendis's book is divided into five parts and organised into 79 chapters. Part one covers the Mahawansa; part two, Chulawansa; part three, colonial period; part four, independence to Indian covert intervention in 1983; and part five Indian intervention in 1983 todate. She has successfully bridged the old and the new and drawn lessons from the ancient to the contemporary. The author centres her writings around six themes.

First, she argues that the Sinhala settlements preceded the Tamil settlements in the island. She draws from several sources to prove her argument - literary, epigraphic, and archaeological. The literary accounts are both Sri Lankan and foreign - Greek, Roman, Indian, Chinese, et al. She also quotes the Tamil historian Gunasegaram: "Few peoples have had the good fortune to inherit such a comparatively reliable story of their hoary past as the Sinhalese. The people of Ceylon in general and particularly the Sinhalese are rightly proud of this ancient story of their long line of kings..."

She subscribes to the view that before the Dravidian ascendancy of South India, Ariyaisation was complete in ancient Sri Lanka. She acknowledges regular interaction between the Sinhala rulers and Indian rulers. While the Harvard Anthropologist Stanley Tambiah in "Buddhism Betrayed?" Suggests that Vijaya married Pandya ruler's daughter, the author claims that the King of Pandus of Madhura was of a Kashtriya tribe of the Aryans who had migrated from Madhya Pradesh. The second King Panduvasudeva, she claims married a princess, the daughter of King Pandu of Sakya clan, who was a cousin of the Buddha. She suggests that there was greater contact with the Aryan rulers (north) than the Dravida rulers (south) of India. Second, she refers to the periodic Tamil invasions that devastated the Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa kingdoms and the emergence of the southern kingdoms of Ruhuna and Kelaniya. She refers to how Elara, a Hindu , tolerated Buddhism, and his sense of justice, by narrating how he dispensed justice.

The battle between Dutugamunu and Elara is interpreted not as war against the Tamils but against foreign invasion. The tomb of Elara, a creation of Gamunu, still stands in Anuradhapura. It is clear that the dominating factor was power not ethnic or religious rivalry - many Tamils would serve in the Sinhala armies and Hinduism practised widely along with Buddhism. The threat from India persisted but it was managed for a millennium.

Third, she explains the power politics between the Sinhala rulers and the South Indian rulers. The battles between the Cholas (Tamils), Chenas (Malayalis), Pandyans (Teligus) in India and how Sinhala rulers selectively assisted their allies. She refers to how the Indian rulers exploited the political instability in Sri Lanka and intervened in the island. Because, historically India was not one state but a number of states, the military power of Sri Lanka would from time to time be used to overwhelm the Indian rulers.

For instance, she refers to the Chola invasion where Karikala took 12,000 Sinhala captives with him and how they were freed by Gajabahu returning to the island with another 24,000 Tamil captives. The Sinhala King is referred to in Tamil literature.

Fourth, she disputes the claim of an ancient Tamil Kingdom in northern Sri Lanka rationalising Tamil Eelam ideology. She cites archaeological, epigraphic and literary evidence'. She relies on K. M. de Silva, Sri Lanka's pre-eminent historian, and distinguished scholars - Paranavithana, Codrington, Ananda Guruge, et al. She cites the Valipuram inscription discovered in Point Pedro in Jaffna, ascribed to Vasabha (67-111 A.D.) as ruler of the whole of Sri Lanka. She acknowledges the intermittent presence of a Tamil kingdom in Jaffna from the 13th century, the independent rule of the Wanni by petty Kings and the East, ruled mostly from Kandy.

Unity
Fifth, she highlights the Sinhala-Tamil unity immediately preceding and after independence. She pinpoints the ethnicisation of Sri Lanka by S.W. R. D. Bandaranaike but states that they cry for an independent Tamil state preceded the Sinhala Only Act. She is critical of the Bandaranaike rejection of Sri Lankan nationalism and its substitution by Sinhala nationalism as a means of capturing political power. Similarly, she is critical of Tamil politicians who used ethnicity to return to power and remain in power.

Sixth, she highlights the absence of a coherent national security and foreign policy, which has devastated Sri Lanka from the 1970s. She exposes New Delhi's role in providing sanctuary, arming, training, financing and directing Tamil militancy in Sri Lanka and how overbearing diplomats such as J. N. Dixit used an internal conflict to precipitate Indian influence. While cautioning against external influence, she concludes with a call for a multicultural Sri Lanka like Australia, UK or US where several ethnic entities coexist.

Dr. Mendis's book sets the reader thinking how best Sri Lanka should manage her internal conflict and her foreign relations. Many politicians of today and tomorrow can learn invaluable lesson by the study of Sri Lankan history. Unfortunately, violence in Sri Lankan politics fails to attract quality leaders to Sri Lankan politics. Therefore, the government - particularly the bureaucracy - must make an extraordinary effort to informally educate Sri Lankan leaders of Sri Lanka's history. Had our leader learnt the lessons of history, there will perhaps be no ethnic conflict. In context, George Santyana, European philosopher, said, "This who forget history are condemned to repeat its mistakes."

Dr. Mendis's book also informs the reader of the danger of two histories - a Sinhala and a Tamil history. Sri Lankan government should seriously think of developing a common history book. It should be authored jointly by Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim and Burgher historians, rewriting a common Sri Lankan history. History shapes the future.

Governments must learn to be procative - depriving the forces of division of initiative - creating a multicultural Sri Lanka. There are other areas that merits attention. One wonders whether, the troubles of Sri Lanka will end, with the creation of a public ethic that ethnic entrepreneurs should be condemned by history. One also wonders whether, like communism was rejected, one day the concept of ethnic parties too will be rejected by the people. Our leaders must think whether constitutionally encouraging the propagation of parties on ethnic lines is contradictory to the vision of a multicultural and a united Sri Lanka?

Every book has its flaws and the book authored by Dr. Mendis is not an exception. In time for the next edition Dr. Mendis should correct the typographic errors and recite the sources uniformly. The book merits praise for two reasons. First, she has worked hard despite other commitments. Second, she aims to informally educate a generation that has to be prepared to engage a threat which the current generation has spawned, in many ways failed to comprehend, and also failed to thwart.

Critics
Sri Lankan historians - particularly academics who do not step out libraries and office rooms - must not criticise the author for the lack of academic rigour. They must be sympathetic to the forces that have driven the author to write such a book. The author has filled a great void - the absence of a popular Sri Lankan history to teach the second generation diaspora. Sri Lankans who produce research exclusively for the research community must realise the responsibility they have to influence both policy/decision makers and shift public opinion for the greater good of Sri Lanka. Dr. Mendis has accomplished this in her own way.

The book carries a foreword by Professor Nandadasa Kodagoda, and brief introductions by both Dr. Dan Padayachee, President, Overseas Medical Graduates Association, Australia, and H. L. D. Mahindapala, a Sri Lankan journalist, who was at one time Editor of the Observer in Colombo.

To make the book appealing, particularly to the Sri Lankan diasapora, she regularly highlights the beauty of Sri Lanka, periodically illustrating the book with excellent photographs. It is without jargon, highly readable, and well structured. The quality of printing will enable the publisher to market the book internationally, particularly through disapora organisations. The book was written to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Sri Lanka's independence.

"The Story of the Sri Lankans" is the first book authored by Dr. Olga Mendis. It is likely that the compulsions that drive her to serve the community will persist and she will continue to produce similar works in the years ahead. Sri Lankans, both young and old, should read her current work.

Today, the author's name is household word among the 160,000 strong Sri Lankan community in Australia. Dr. Mendis is today among many Sri Lankans who live outside the country and contribute to the advancement of the land of their birth. The late Professor Cyril Ponnamperuma, respected NASA scientist, once remarked, "the greatest untapped resource Sri Lanka has is its expatriates." In appreciation of Dr. Mendis's work, the Government of Australia decorated her with the highest award - Order of Australia Medal. The Government of Sri Lanka should take the cue and honour her for a life time of service to community country.

The reviewer Rohan Gunaratna is a British Chevening Scholar, UK. He is author of "Sri Lanka's Ethnic Crisis and National Security."